The objective of the visit was to witness the dismantling of selected battery pack models in order to extract key messages and recommendations in view of reusing and repurposing of EV battery packs. These findings support WP3 (Costumer-driven products re-design for the circular economy) of the CarE-Service project and aim at identifying which parameters are relevant for both battery pack designers and dismantling operators.
The company EcarACCU (part of Autobedrijf Peter Ursem) is working in the business of EV battery second use for several years, and they are dismantling EV battery on daily basis. They offered the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a partner in the CarE-service project, the opportunity to witness the dismantling of selected EV battery packs.
Some key messages that can be extracted from the visit in view of identifying suitable parameters for assessing easiness of dismantling are:
- Scrap rate of the dismantling operation
- dismantled components should be reusable and scrap rate should be minimum
- Easy and ubiquitous access to all the modules and electric/electronic components
- Easy access to the cells inside the modules
- Improved information and marking (e.g. type of screws, HV components, sequence and steps to follow)
- Time duration of dismantling operations might not be a suitable parameter
- It may depend on the operator’s skills and level of automation
- The supporting systems (e.g. cooling system, low voltage hardware, cabling, feed throughs) should not hinder the dismantling operations
- Ease of dismantling should not compromise the safety, e.g.:
- gas tightness
- location of the pressure release valve
- location and easy access to the main HV disconnection plug
- structural strength and integrity of the battery pack
